I am on my first project and my 1972 K-20 Camper Special has Eaton H052 rear axles. I was informed parts are near impossible to find and a upgrade would be the best way to go. I have heard DANA 60 and 14 bolt. My question is what rear axles are out there that will bolt directly up? I wont be using the truck for any major hauling etc... but want to keep it a true 3/4 ton. I am also sure this question has been answered 100 times but couldn't find it. New to the site lol.

Welcome aboard! Pretty sure most (if not all) bearings & seals are readily available, as well as brake shoes & hardware kits. Brake drums and gearsets are harder to find but if yours are still good..... Those Eatons are tough as nails and if nothing is wrong with it, why not keep it? Sorry this doesn't answer your question but I'm sure others will jump in with better info.

I agree and have a lot of the parts bearings, inner, outer, and brakes including the hubs and drums. I didn't want to change all that and 6 months down the road like you said the gear set take a crap on me. I was thinking for the future of the truck and expenses. It would be a shame to do all that work and not be able to sell it or return anything.

Well, that is true. In 40 years my HO52 had a pinion pocket bearing fail and NAPA had it. Other than that it has only needed brake shoes & hardware and wheel cylinders, and fresh oil. I'll keep it and if it has a catastrophic failure down the road, I'll be asking the same questions you are!

Someone will ask to see pics of your truck, so it might as well be me. Love those K20s!

If you get a GM 1ton corp 14 it should bolt in without changing the perches. You will need to weld in shock tabs. I ended up 5/8" shorter Yoke to yoke with ORD zero rates at the 1" hole. And I think I used Driver side Parking brake cables on both sides. search on 1970 K20 axle swap, I have what I did in a thread. Easy money.

Id pop the 3rd member and get a good look at it first. Maybe even take it in to a shop that can set up gears correctly? 14 bolts and Dana 60s are great axles but may also need a good going through is neglected by the PO.

Whenever possible, I try and work with what I have until it becomes more cost effective to do something else.

That said, the 14B went into the '63 with a little bit of work. Shock mounts as Jeff mentioned, driveshaft cut and e brake cable figuring outing. The original 12 bolt was evicted for a Dana 60 (that was hammered when I got it).

Had an Eaton been under it to begin with, I might have tried a little harder to save it.

I appreciate all you guys input, however, today I took the differential cover off and the gears look new, pinion has zero slack and they are 4.10 gears. I am going to take my chances and use this until she breaks then think about the upgrade. I have a feeling I can get 5 years out of this on with no worries. I am liking the **** out of this forum and will post a picture ASAP. Thanks again guys.

If you break it please post pics. I've ran these for 30 years now in pull trucks, wheeling rigs and even put one in a '91 Cummins Dodge because I had it and couldn't afford to rebuild the Dana70 that the pinion twisted off of. The one in the Dodge last I heard had over 300K miles on it. Just service it and run it.

For sure, run it till it quits, it will probably last as long as you need it. Bottom line is; you have options galore if and when the time comes to replace. Especially if you are looking for a rear axle, they are everywhere. Fronts are a bit more dicey, you have a limited supply because not all trucks are 4x4 and you have more on them that can be junk, like ball joints and such. But I'm just pointing out the obvious now!

I appreciate all you guys input, however, today I took the differential cover off and the gears look new, pinion has zero slack and they are 4.10 gears. I am going to take my chances and use this until she breaks then think about the upgrade. I have a feeling I can get 5 years out of this on with no worries. I am liking the **** out of this forum and will post a picture ASAP. Thanks again guys.

I love it when things work out like that! Although I really don't have much experience with those types of situations

Is your HO52 broke? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Unless your axle needs repair, you have no reason to believe it will. There are plenty of used parts from all the axles that get pulled for a swap. Bearings and seals are available, so if you are concerned about the age and durability, replace all those and prevent any ring & pinion issues. Brakes? Maybe not available, haven't tried lately. Buy last time I did brakes I was able to get everything from NAPA. If not, isn't the trend to go to disc brakes anyway?

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Nothing wrong with that, I see an honest-to-goodness truck with a little hard-earned wear & tear, just like a K20 should have. With three tanks and stout axles, it has solid bones and tons of potential if you decide to change things around a bit. Congrats!

Back in 1985 we had a 62 camper special in the fleet at work that finally died. The boss let me have the rear end for free, so I put it on my 66 C10 and made it into a 3/4 ton. I used and abused that 66 as a work truck until last year when it finally rusted away.I now have that same Eaton bolted to my new project, a 65 K10, so now that rear end has outlived two trucks and is still going strong! In the late 80's I had Randy's Ring& Pinion install a NoSpin in it and at the time they said the diff was pretty worn and probably only had a few more years left. Well, that was 30 years ago. I'm not sure you can kill an HO52. You have a great truck there and that Eaton will serve it well. If you ever get rid of it I'll be glad to take those 4.10 gears off your hands. Good luck with your project - Tom

I found everything i needed when i rebuilt mine. Including all brake parts, bearings and seals. My local axle specialist even had a set of ring/pinion gears to replace mine.

Wondering where you got your parts as sounds like we're in same part of the world ( "Old Creek" makes me think Cayucos). Always looking for sources. Thanks, Tom
-hope this is not considered a highjack, but had to ask

Wondering where you got your parts as sounds like we're in same part of the world ( "Old Creek" makes me think Cayucos). Always looking for sources. Thanks, Tom
-hope this is not considered a highjack, but had to ask

Yep! You got it.

I got my axles done at American Gear in SLO. (Great name, great service!) I don't suspect he has tons of "rare" parts but, hey, he had what i needed. The point being, an H052 has value.

I got my axles done at American Gear in SLO. (Great name, great service!) I don't suspect he has tons of "rare" parts but, hey, he had what i needed. The point being, an H052 has value.

Wil

I know the shop, but have never used them, nice to know they are good people. I've seen an 8 lug Blazer around town but never noticed it had an HO52, that's very cool!
Hopefully we have all convinced this guy to keep that axle where it belongs and stop another nice HO52 from being turned into a boat anchor.